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KEY CONCEPTS & CHOICE OF METHOD SCLY2
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- 1What do positivists argue research should be?Scientific, objective and quantitative
- 2Why do they argue this?They argue there is a measurable objective to social reality
- 3Give some examples of standardised methods of research preferred by positivistsOfficial statistics, structured interviewsm, questionnaires, structured observation
- 4What do positivists use the data they obtain to make?Generalisations and cause-and-effect relationships
- 5How do interpretivists disagree?There is no objective social reality
- 6What do interpretivists want to find out with the research they conduct?Meanings
- 7What open-ended research methods do interpretivists prefer?Unstructured interviews, participant observation, personal documents
- 8What do such methods of research allow the researcher to gain and how?Understanding by experiencing the groups life style for themselves
- 9What are the 3 key concepts sociologists use to judge the usefulness of a research method?Reliability, representativeness and validity
- 10For a method to be reliable, it must be _________Replicable
- 11What does reliability mean using?Standardised forms of research
- 12What can a reliable piece of data be used for?Systematically re-testing hypothesis about social behaviour
- 13What can't sociologists study every member of the group they are interested in studying?There are usually too many of them
- 14What do the characteristics of the sampled group need to be in order to the data to be representative?The same as those of the wider group
- 15What does this mean the sociologist will be able to make on the basis of evidence from the sample?Generalisations about the wider group
- 16Why do positivists emphasise the need for representativeness?So they are able to discover general patterns and make general cause and effect statements about social behaviour
- 17What does 'validity' refer to?How authentic and true data is
- 18What is the difference between primary and secondary data?Primary - collected by the sociologist themselves
Secondary - already been collected by someone else - 19Give some examples of secondary sources of data?Official statistics, historical documents, business records, media reports, personal documents
- 20What are the three main factors that influence a researchers choice of method?- The methodological preference of the researcher
- Practical aspects
- Ethical concerns - 21What are the two methodological types?Positivists and interpretivisits
- 22Which one prefers data to be scientific, objective and quantitative?Positivists
- 23What do intepretivists prefer data to be?Qualitative, unstructured, valid
- 24Give 2 examples of research methods preferred by each typePositivists - questionnaires and official statistics
Interpretivists - unstructured interviews and participant observation - 25How many factors are there surrounding the practical issues of a research method?7
- 26What are these factors?Time - money - source of funding - personal factors - research subjects - research opportunity - personal danger
- 27TIMESome methods take more time than others - e.g participant observation takes more time than social surveys
- 28MONEYMoney can affect the number of researchers (training), the number of respondents (incentives) and the amount of research time. Some methods such as postal questionnaires are cheaper than others.
- 29SOURCE OF FINANCEResearch sponsored by government, business etc reflects the concerns of these funding bodies
- 30PERSONAL FACTORSResearchers may have careers, families etc so may not be able to do lengthy research
- 31RESEARCH SUBJECTSSome groups such as criminals are less open, so structured research methods are not appropriate
- 32RESEARCH OPPORTUNITYIf a research opportunity suddenly appears, the research may have little/no time to prepare lengthy questionnaires or interview schedules
- 33PERSONAL DANGERMethods involving direct contact with a research group such as participant observation increase the possibility of danger to researchers
- 34What are the three ethical factors?Consent, confidentiality and effects on research subjects
- 35Why must researchers gather informed consent from their research subjects?The effects the research might have on them - it is wrong to manipulate of mislead people
- 36Research subjects have the right to _________Anonymity
- 37What does this mean about the research subjects when the research is published?They should not be identifiable
- 38Give one reason why this may be hard to achieveIf the group studied is small
- 39How may the research subjects be affected by sociological research?Research findings can be used by political groups in the media in ways that may damage the research subjects through embarrassment, harassment etc
- 40How can practical, ethical and theoretical factors be interrelated?Collecting qualitative data produces practical problems such as gaining trust and access
Collecting quantitative data creates practical problems such as sampling frames, distribution of a sample etc - 41What is triangulation?Combining qualitative and quantitative methods of research so that the strengths of one balances the weaknesses of the other
- 42What 5 factors affect a sociologists choice of topic?Practical factors
Funding bodies
Society's values
Theoretical perspective
Chance - 43PRACTICAL FACTORSSome topics may not be easily studied, e.g high level political decision making
- 44FUNDING BODIESFunding bodies will only fund for topics they consider to be important
Governments are much more likely to fund research that links to their policies - 45SOCIETY'S VALUESSociety's values change and the interest in particular topics and issues moves with them
- 46THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVEA sociologists theoretical perspective is likely to influence their choice of topic e.g feminists are likely to study gender issues
- 47CHANCESometimes sociologists find themselves in a potential research situation by pure chance
e.g hospitalisation as a result of illness gave one researcher the opportunity to do a study of hospital ward
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- Questions and answers on the key concepts and choice of methods topic of AQA AS Sociolog
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